love life, mom life, home life

we’ve added a new member to our tribe. meet dapper oaklee nguyen. he’s only 9 weeks old, but he’s already living up to his name.

they say you can tell at this age what their personality will be like as adult dogs. if this is true, we have a very chill man on our hands; that’s good because I foresee many dress up parties + adventures with his human sis that he’ll need to be chill for.

for those of you who knew oaklee, you know getting another dog is a very big deal for me. after oaklee’s passing, my heart broke. i knew i’d never be able to replace him. getting another dog seemed like a betrayal in my eyes for a long time.

when we moved in with my parents, i realized how much happier anna was. i hadn’t really noticed before, but anna was depressed and missing him too. add in some gentle nudging from your loved ones, and then you decide to j u m p and get another dog.

after all, my word for the year is j u m p .

i began the search for a dachshund, and eventually found this little reese’s peanut butter cup. i knew he was it. so we waited a few weeks until he was old enough, then drove 4.5 hours to get him, plus another 4.5 to take him home. thanks to a bag full of snacks, movies on the ipad, a frosty from Wendy’s, and lots of stickers + jewelry to play with, we managed to make it there and back with only one meltdown.

(i currently don’t have any pictures of the three nguyen babes yet because anna hates having her photo taken. still working on it…)

if you’ve been following along with my previous posts, you know we are currently living with my parents while our “farmhouse in the city” is being built. but, it’s not like it will be done any day now, friends. we are starting literally from the ground up, and they haven’t even broken ground yet! so, it’s a big sign of love for my parents to let us crash their nest for six months. now that we’ve added a puppy to our tribe, that makes five humans + four dogs. in one house.

are we crazy? probably. definitely. it’s a circus, but it’s also a lot of fun.

p o t t y t r a i n i n g

after spade’s first birthday in november, we bought her a little potty to sit on while we are in the bathroom (because you know when you have a young child you can never go to the bathroom by yourself). she began sitting on it and saying “potty,” as we introduced the concept to her.

every time she would sit on her potty, we would talk about what we do on the potty, and i would sing a potty song i made up for her. (at home, i live my life as if i’m in a disney movie + make up songs for every occasion or milestone. she currently loves it. she probably won’t love it as much when she’s 13.)

anyway, as time went on, saying potty turned into wanting to potty, which turned in to actually using the potty. since she’s still considered “young” to potty, we have been slowly incorporating potty breaks into her day, and being very relaxed about the whole thing. we started with one potty in the morning, and one at night before bed.

i’m not sure if it’s just because she’s learning so rapidly at this age, because she’s simply ready, because i’ve been taking dapper out to potty every 15 minutes trying to train him, OR all of the above, BUT we are on our second week of using the potty five or six times a day. It’s as if she woke up one morning, and decided she was ready. she’s been using her potty to pee, and still using her diaper to poop. but, when she does do number 2, she tells us. so, even though she hasn’t pooped in the potty yet, she is aware of what it is and that her diaper needs to be changed after.

is it weird to read about my child’s bathroom adventures? if you don’t have children, it probably is. if you are a parent, you probably talk about your child’s business every day + you’re celebrating with me because you know potty training is a big deal!

so, basically my life currently revolves around all the potty things. every fifteen minutes, i’m taking dapper out to potty. when dapper does his thing, spade and i do a potty dance and sing our potty song. (if you’re lucky, maybe one day i will share the lyrics with you because apparently, it’s a chart topper waiting to happen). then, we go inside and take S into the bathroom to use her potty, which is followed by an even louder, more dramatic dance + potty song.

when we signed the contract for our new house, i started a goal of no diapers by christmas. i’m realizing maybe my goal isn’t so far fetched. christmas, in our new home, with my hubby, two potty trained pups AND a potty trained babe. i literally do not need any gifts from friends or family this year. those things i just mentioned? totally enough.

u p d a t e : i have been working on this post for a few days, so some things have changed in the nguyen household since i started. yesterday, S came to me and said, “momma potty.” i held her soft, perfect baby hand and led her to the bathroom to potty. next thing i know, she’s pooping in the potty.

i might have cried.

yes, i’m that mom. i’m the mom that cries because she’s so happy. i’m the mom that can just look at the babe she carried in her belly, marvel at her beauty, and start to cry. i’m the mom that cries when her babe makes her proud. i’m the mom that cries at every single milestone. i’m the mom that cries every time she realizes her child is getting bigger…smarter…closer to being in kindergarten…moving out of my house…getting married…singing the potty song she learned to her child as she is potty training him/her. (yes, i know that’s a long time away, but my mind overanalyzes + takes me through her entire life, like a movie.)

so, does potty training lead to tears in your house? it does in ours. luckily, they are happy tears from a hormonal + proud momma.

we are still a long way from having her officially potty trained, and sometimes i think dapper is catching on…and then he pees on the carpet. but that’s my life these days, potty training toddlers + puppies. and i love it.

do you have any tips or strategies that helped you during potty training (puppies or babes)? i would love to hear them!

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Published by thesimpleelife

welcome to the simplee life. i’m bailee. wifey to my best friend and stay at home mom to my daughter and two fur babes. i’m a believer, a party + holiday + tradition planner, baker and animal lover. i’m passionate about living simplee (and double ee’s). the simplee life is finding joy in the little things, because the little things are really the big things in life. i hope you enjoy these peeks into our nest + life. thank you for stopping by the simplee life!
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the simplee life

welcome to the simplee life. i’m bailee. wifey to my best friend and stay at home mom to my daughter and two fur babes. i’m a believer, a party + holiday + tradition planner, baker and animal lover. i’m passionate about living simplee (and double ee’s). the simplee life is finding joy in the little things, because the little things are really the big things in life. i hope you enjoy these peeks into our nest + life. thank you for stopping by!